Battling Giants: Frontline resistance against BHP Billiton

6 October 2016 - 3:30pm

Event

BATTLING GIANTS: FRONTLINE RESISTANCE AGAINST BHP BILLITON

SPEAKER TOUR: 15-21 OCTOBER 2016

From 15 to 21 October, War on Want and London Mining Network will be hosting visitors from Brazil, Colombia and Indonesia representing communities affected by the operations of the world’s biggest mining company, BHP Billiton, whose record of catastrophic environmental damage and forced displacement of indigenous communities stretches back decades.

FRONTLINE DEFENDERS

From Brazil:

Letícia Oliveira Gomes de Faria and Maria do Carmo Silva D’Angelo, women from the Movement Against Damns in Brazil (MAB) who have been affected by the Samarco waste spill which killed dozens of people and polluted hundreds of miles of rivers; and

LuzAngela Uriana Epiayu, Indigenous Wayuu woman from Provincial, La Guajira where the Cerrejon mine, joint-owned by BHP, is the largest opencast coal mine in Latin America; it has forcibly displaced thousands of rural families and uses huge quantities of water denied to indigenous people in Colombia’s driest region; and

Arie Rompas from WALHI, Friends of the Earth Indonesia, where the company has been planning a huge new opencast coal project, Indomet, in the rainforests of Central Kalimantan, threatening shocking environmental and social destruction. It is now pulling out leaving others to complete the damage.

The New Colonialism: Britain's scramble for Africa's energy and mineral resources

Latest news

The recent reports regarding the conduct of staff working for international humanitarian and development charities focussing on Oxfam, is a crucial reminder of the importance that charities should place on ensuring effective policies and practices in safeguarding, including commitments to recognise and uphold the dignity of local communities that the sector works with.